


Don't Panic

by QueenForADay



Series: Outlaws (Criminal!Poe/Finn) [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Criminals, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Bickering, Bisexual Poe Dameron, Crimes & Criminals, Established Relationship, Finn just doesn't want to know, M/M, Poe Dameron Being a Little Shit, Polyamory, kind of?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 11:36:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6327385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenForADay/pseuds/QueenForADay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An injured Poe Dameron walks through their hideout door. Finn sighs through his nose. </p><p>"Do I even want to know how this happened?"</p><p>Criminal!Au Poe/Finn</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Panic

In their time together, Finn heard almost countless stories about how Poe managed to get under everyone’s skins. He knows about the times that Poe had been at the mercy of gangs in counties all over the country. Finn still shudders when Poe tells him.

It’s one thing, though, to hear about it.

It’s another thing entirely to see it.

They’ve hidden themselves away in an apartment in central Washington DC. For such a public place to live, it’s remarkably hidden. No one has come knocking at the door yet, wanting to put a bullet through either of them.

That’s when Poe stumbles through the door.

Finn hears the door creaking open and he drops the dishes into the sink. His hand wraps around a butcher knife that’s under the soapy water.

Poe stumbles into the kitchen, and Finn visibly relaxes for a second before he notices Poe leaning to one side.

The dim fluorescent light catches the dark bruises on Poe’s cheekbone. They catch the cut that’s through his

It should shock him about his response to this, but Finn only sighs through his nose and dries his hands. “Come on,” he leads Poe by the arm into their living room. It’s spare in terms of furniture. He lets Poe fall back onto a worn old couch, and kneels down on the ground in front of him.

“Let me,” he says softly, helping Poe worm out of his jacket – a new one since he gave Finn his old leather one – and helps carefully lift his shirt over his head.

Finn should be shocked. He should be shocked at how beaten up Poe is. But he isn’t. He should be shocked about how not-shocked he is. He’s not that either.

Poe’s not as beaten up as he normally is.

“The other guy is much worse,” he laughs breathlessly, wincing slightly. Finn’s hands ghost over his torso, feeling out any broken bones.

Poe looks down at him. “If anything was broken, buddy, wouldn’t I already know?”

Finn shakes his head. “You’d be surprised,” he tells the other man. He stands up to walk back into the kitchen. They won’t stay here for very long, so they haven’t made a home out of the apartment. He did go out a few days ago when Poe was on a recon to get some supplies. Namely, antiseptic and bandages. Poe hates hospitals. He’d rather be hit by a car, thrown over a ridge, and left in the desert to die than go to a hospital.

Finn has enough practise on patching people up to know what he’s doing.

He comes back to Poe with the supplies and drops them onto the couch beside the other man. Poe’s eyes have slipped shut and his breathing has deepened.

Finn slaps his side. “Stay awake.”

Poe jolts back awake with a groan of pain. “That was unnecessary,” he grumbles.

“I need you to stay awake,” Finn replies.  He wets a clean cloth with some of the antiseptic and pressed it to an opened cut on Poe’s upper chest. The man sucks in a harsh breath.

Finn’s noticed the silence that often falls between them. It’s evolved over time. He remembers back to when Poe picked him up off that highway all those months ago. They rarely spoke in the drive. That was the worst silence they ever had together. It turned into something comfortable. They didn’t need to speak to each other anymore. There wasn’t a need for the emptiness between them to be filled. Finn’s glad for it.

Finn sighs through his nose. “Do I even want to know how this happened?”

“Take a wild guess, darlin’.”

Finn presses the cloth a bit harder into Poe’s cut, making the man gasp in pain. “It’s not funny, Dameron. How did this happen?”

Poe sags back against the couch and lets Finn clean his cuts. The bruises are fine. They’re every shade of purple and black, but they’re fine. Finn moves to sit on the couch, close to Poe and turning his head slightly to get at the cut that’s just above his eyebrow.

“I can smell the alcohol,” Finn comments idly. There’s no heat behind his words. There never is.

Poe swallows. “Just another fight,” he says quietly.

Finn’s eyes flicker up to meet his. “Why was there a fight?”

Poe shrugs his good shoulder. “Some gang leader said I was hitting on his wife,” he replies quietly, wincing slightly when Finn starts to clean the cut a bit deeper.

“Were you?”

Poe stays silent.

If he had more time, Finn would have picked up something to stitch with. He knows how to, it was just a means of getting the supplies he needed. Still, a clean cut is as good as any. He starts prepping one of the bandages when Poe speaks up again.

“We agreed,” he says slowly, licking his lips absentmindedly as he works through the words, “we agreed when we started…whatever it is we have.”

They did. Finn remembers how that particular talk went.

Sure, he doesn’t love the idea of his…whatever Poe is to him…fumbling around with other people, but Poe turns the same blind eye to him as he does back. Finn has picked up one or two people along the way. He’s fine with it. He really is. He just hates the damage it does when Poe gets caught.

He closes Poe’s cuts as best as he can with what he has. There’s the smell of alcohol coming off of Poe’s breath. If he’s drunk enough, he won’t be feeling any pain. Poe managed to walk home and get through the door easily, so Finn doesn’t think he’s that drunk. But he doesn’t look in too much pain.

Finn gathers his supplies and dumps them onto a small kitchen table. “I’m going to bed,” he says. He doesn’t hear Poe’s footsteps follow him.

He gets out of his clothes, leaving on only his boxers and slides under the sheets. He’s not tired. Emotionally and mentally, he’s exhausted. But his body is still wide awake.

He must have fallen asleep. When he opens his eyes the room is dark. The door to the room creaks shut and he sees Poe’s shadow stumble through the room. Finn manages to bury his face back into the pillow without Poe noticing.

The bed dips and Poe sighs heavily as he lays back on the bed.

The silence is back again. Whether or not Poe thinks that Finn is really asleep or not, he doesn’t say anything.

There’re suddenly arms around him and Poe’s warm chest is pressed to his back.

“You should know,” he mumbles into the back of Finn’s neck, “that despite this agreement we have, I love you more than any of them.”

Finn stays still.

He feels Poe press soft kisses to the back of his neck.

Finn grabs one of Poe’s hands and bring it to his chest. In some way, he hopes Poe can feel how fast his heart is beating. In the dark of the room, with only the faint sounds of the city outside, he tries to drown it all out.

“Do you ever get tired of it?” Finn says, proud of himself that his voice holds strong.

Poe brings himself closer to Finn. “Not really. It’s how I’ve been living for so long, so I’m just used to it.”

There’s a pause.

“Finn…” Poe pauses again. He sucks in a harsh breath, “you can leave if you want.”

The words make Finn turn over in Poe’s arms. He only realises how close the other man is until Finn is face to face with him. Poe’s eyes – beautiful dark brown eyes that can be so warm and so deadly at the same time – are distant.

“Don’t ever say that to me again,” Finns warns.

Finn turns back around. Poe seems to do the same as the bed shifts and settles down again. DC’s nightlife buzzes softly outside. Where they’re stationed isn’t too populated, so it’s quiet during the nights. Beams of orange street lights come in through the shutters, softly illuminating the room. Finn maps the entire thing – from the empty cabinets to the dressers to the wardrobe. Poe’s soft snores come from behind him.

He stays awake during the night, only starting to feel tired when morning comes.

Finn folds his arm to pillow his head and drifts off to a light sleep.

 

They have to leave DC.

They have to leave a lot of places quickly, but getting out of DC was the quickest escape they’ve ever done. Finn doesn’t say anything when Poe practically throws himself through the door of their apartment. He doesn’t say anything when, within minutes, Poe already has their things in bags and is ushering him out the door. He doesn’t say anything when he hears the first gunshot.

They hit the edge of the city and start the drive out into what Poe used to call “safe-zones” because in his own experience, “they just want to chase you out, buddy, that’s all.”

Finn drums his fingers against the window, watching the scenery drift by them. He has no idea where they can go now, but he’s sure Poe has some sort of plan. Looking over to the man, he can see the wheels in the other man’s head already turning.

“I’m going to assume that was the wife’s husband?” Finn gestures back to the city.

Poe raises his eyebrow at him, and then chuckles softly. “No,” he shakes his head, “another lover.”

Finn stares at him for a minute before falling back into his chair with a grin playing to one side of his mouth.

They try to stop in high spots. Poe says it’s because he feels more comfortable having an eagle-eyed view of the surroundings.

Finn just likes the view. At a certain point in the night, even horrible cities can become beautiful when their lights come on. Finn always sits on the hood of Poe’s car, watching each one flicker on until it’s a soft glow against the ink black surroundings.

Poe eventually joins him.

“I love you more than them,” Poe says quietly. Truthfully, in the silence of the night, it sounds a lot louder than it is. Finn stuffs his hands into his jacket pockets.

“I know you do.”

He feels Poe look over to him. “I meant it. Yeah, the ‘I love you’ thing, but the other thing too-”

“-Poe”

“-If you want to leave, leave. I won’t stop you.”

Poe slides off of the hood of the car and takes a few steps out on to the ridge. He toes the dirt with his boot – a nervous tick Finn has noticed over the months. “If this is all too much for you, you can go. I won’t stop you. I wouldn’t want you to – I’d miss you like crazy, buddy, but I’d understand.”

Finn slides off of the car.

“This isn’t your lifestyle, I know that. Hell, you were a hitchhiker I picked up at the side of the road-”

Finn takes one of Poe’s hands and makes him turn around to look at him. Poe’s mouth shuts closed.

“You have no idea what I did before you found me on that road,” Finn says before he brings a hand around to the back of Poe’s neck and presses their lips together.

It's a light touch, honestly. Nothing deep or passionate like they usually share. Their lips don't move for a moment and Poe feels like he's suddenly forgotten how to kiss someone. But he feels Finn press a little more firmly against his mouth, and feels an arm go around his waist to pull him into his chest. Poe suddenly remembers how to kiss as his arms go around Finn’s shoulders, his fingers linking behind his neck.

Finn pulls away, but keeps Poe close to him. He’s a welcomed heat in the cold night. Poe brushes his nose against Finn’s, a gesture that just happened between them through their relationship.

“Where to next?” Poe rasps.

Finn’s fingers play with the curls at the back of Poe’s neck. “That’s up to you. I don’t care.”

They eventually get back into the car. The night was growing just too cold for them. Poe pulls out his map – a battered old thing with markings over most of it, and starts mumbling to himself. His finger follows a road until it hits a small town just south of DC.

Finn leans against the car door, using one of their spare jackets as a pillow.

As the car starts, Finn’s eyes slip shut. Poe turns on the radio and turns down the volume, humming along to a song Finn barely remembers the name of. Before he falls off to sleep he can feel Poe’s eyes land on him.

“I love you kid,” the man says quietly.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a tumblr!!
> 
> If you would like to bring forward a prompt, drop it by my inbox :) yourqueenforayear.tumblr.com
> 
> I had a thought today. A thought that, with more thoughts, would become a fully fledged out Criminal!AU with other characters like Rey, Ben/Kylo, Leia and Han, and the like. This is...I don't want to say "set up", but it's sort of set up? It's 11pm where I am and I'm tired (a long day of physio for a knee I may or may not have cracked)


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